The prior art is well documented with examples of fish hook or tape extension/retrieval devices. One objective of such devices is in the location or a fish tape or line, such as is utilized by electrical contractors when working in tight confines or spaces and in order to ran electrical lines.
Known examples include the apparatus and method for locating a fish tape as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 5,820,249, to Walsten. The locator exhibits a first threaded end for fixing to the end of a fish tape and an opposite second end with emits light to help locate the end of the fish tape when it is being fished through a blind space. The first end is provided with a cross-bore for connecting the locator to a string, chain, hook or other line.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,025,333, issued to Gianturco, teaches a visual navigation device including a reel mounted within a reel housing. A flexible tape wound on the reel is adapted to be payed out of the housing and into an area to be navigated. A distal end of the flexible tape incorporates a video camera, a visual monitor being operatively connected to the camera and supported in the reel housing.
Other examples include U.S. Pat. No. 6,972,377, to Sawyer, and which discloses a glow rod assembly for guiding, feeding or routing a wire or cable in a target space of an existing structure. The elongate (typically glowing) rod includes first and second opposite end portions, an anchoring member attached to the rod first end portion. The anchoring member resides against a surface of a structural frame member to hold the first end portion outside of a target internal routing space to allow the second end portion to extend in the to the target internal routing space, thereby allowing one end of the rod to remain in a fixed location without requiring a second installer.